4K HEVC black screen with audio. Also, unable to change display mode (resolution)

[carterghill 0]

Hi Emby community, I recently installed Emby for Android TV on my JBL Link Bar and it works okay overall, until I noticed a couple of issues with 4k video. For one, I noticed that I can't change my display resolution while streaming, and 4k videos seem to default to 1080p. During playback, I go to settings, and select Display Resolution, but no menu for that setting opens up like the others (though it does show the button-clicky animation).

 

The second issue is that 4k streams show only a black screen with a small horizontal white line in the top left corner (but audio still plays). At first I thought this was because it was forcing me to use 1080p and there was some decoding error, so I tried using the play with another video app option with VLC thinking it would just play the video at its native resolution (maybe someone could verify this as well? If so, possible work-around for my first problem). VLC successfully launches and starts the stream as well, but has the exact same video issue. So, my assumption now is that this device does not support this video format, and so the server is encoding it. Since both apps are having the same issue, maybe the source is there?

 

I'd love to know your thoughts, I really want to finally watch 4k on my TV lol. My logs are attached below, thanks in advance for any help I might get here

 

Edit: I did some digging and apparently JBL Link Bar DOES support 4K HEVC, so that probably shouldn't be the issue.

 

Server Version 4.2.1.0

 

Edit 2: Updated my server to 4.3.1.0, same problem. I should also mention this problem does not happen on my Nvidia shield or my browser

ffmpeg-remux-80173dbb-465e-44b3-8350-eb960dc65df1_1.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-17be2468-79d1-40aa-b175-55a55cf596cb_1.txt

Edited January 7, 2020 by carterghill

[ebr 16169]

What happens if you select an audio track other than one of the DTS ones (which it looks like that device does not support)?

 

Based on your description, it also doesn't support display mode switching but that doesn't mean it isn't playing your video in 4K when that's what you feed it.

[carterghill 0]

What happens if you select an audio track other than one of the DTS ones (which it looks like that device does not support)?

 

Based on your description, it also doesn't support display mode switching but that doesn't mean it isn't playing your video in 4K when that's what you feed it.

DTS is the only English one, so I tried the Hindi 2 channel mp3 audio for that movie and I get the same result. In both cases, audio plays but there's no video.

 

So since there's no display mode switching, does that mean it's always the video's native resolution (if possible)? If so, I probably don't have to worry about that then

[ebr 16169]

It depends on how the device is handling it.  This is a brand new kind of device so I'm not sure what its capabilities are.

 

Can you play the problem item for a few seconds and then send a log from the app?

 

Thanks.

[carterghill 0]

It depends on how the device is handling it.  This is a brand new kind of device so I'm not sure what its capabilities are.

 

Can you play the problem item for a few seconds and then send a log from the app?

 

Thanks.

Okay I have sent the logs from the app

[ebr 16169]

Hi.  I couldn't see the start of playback in that log.  Could you try it again, playing only for a few seconds and then immediately send the log (without exiting the app)?

 

Thanks.

[carterghill 0]

Hi.  I couldn't see the start of playback in that log.  Could you try it again, playing only for a few seconds and then immediately send the log (without exiting the app)?

 

Thanks.

Okay, I tried again. I don't think I left the app before sending last time so I hope this one shows what you need

[ebr 16169]

Okay, this is throwing an error I've never seen before.

 

This item has an odd resolution but I'm not sure if that is related.

 

Is it possible for you to try the beta version of the app (which has a newer version of the player as well as other mods) and see if it is different?

[carterghill 0]

Okay, this is throwing an error I've never seen before.

 

This item has an odd resolution but I'm not sure if that is related.

 

Is it possible for you to try the beta version of the app (which has a newer version of the player as well as other mods) and see if it is different?

I became a beta participant by following your link, updated Emby on my JBL, but the problem persists unfortunately. Good to know I helped find a new error though I guess lol

 

Another update, I converted the movie I've been testing on to 4k h.264. That version does work (though the quality is awful, maybe VLC doesn't have a great converter).

[ebr 16169]

Where did the item come from originally/how was it created?

[carterghill 0]

Where did the item come from originally/how was it created?

It's ripped from a blu-ray

[ebr 16169]

What did you use to rip it?

[carterghill 0]

What did you use to rip it?

Not sure, friend of mine did it for me. I believe it was done properly, works for both of us on other devices

[Luke 42077]

Is this only with certain files?

[carterghill 0]

Is this only with certain files?

No, it happens with every file formatted as 4K HEVC, or at least that's what I thought at first. I converted one of the movies to 4K HEVC in a .mp4 file instead of .mkv, and this movie DOES work, though I feel I should note this file is 1.7gb instead of the original 15.3gb, not sure if that part is relevant or not.

[ebr 16169]

If we can find out how the original was created, that might help.  What did you use to do your conversion?

[Guest asrequested]

If you use mediainfo to look at the details, it will tell you what it was made with.

[carterghill 0]

If you use mediainfo to look at the details, it will tell you what it was made with.

 

 

Sure, I've created a mediainfo.txt of one of the problem files that I can share. How do I attach a file to a comment? I don't see an attachment option like I did when posting.

 

I will reiterate though, it seems like the issue is specifically with 4k mkv files. I'm not sure how understanding how a single file was made will tell us anything, since it seems like the issue is how the app decodes this file type. I have multiple 4k mkv files from multiple sources and none work. Obviously more info never hurts and it might tell us something, I just don't want us going down the wrong rabbit-hole haha

[Luke 42077]

Sure, I've created a mediainfo.txt of one of the problem files that I can share. How do I attach a file to a comment?

 

Click More reply options next to Post.

[carterghill 0]

Click More reply options next to Post.

 

@@ebr

mediainfo.txt

[Guest asrequested]

Is it clear we are talking about 4k specifically, or HDR stuff? Are they all the same profile? Full frame? Not full frame? There are a lot of variables...

[carterghill 0]

Is it clear we are talking about 4k specifically, or HDR stuff? Are they all the same profile? Full frame? Not full frame? There are a lot of variables...

I think you're onto something with HDR. I looked through my movies and only found one 4k movie without HDR, and it works! So I guess that's where the problem is

Edited January 9, 2020 by carterghill

[ebr 16169]

You are the first one I know of using this device.  I'm pretty sure the issue is specific to it.  Are you sure it supports HDR content?

[carterghill 0]

You are the first one I know of using this device.  I'm pretty sure the issue is specific to it.  Are you sure it supports HDR content?

There's not much info on it that I can find, but it looks like HDR is not supported. Does that mean I simply won't be able to play my HDR files or is there some way to disable it in playback?

[ebr 16169]

Not on our end.  Typically, you'd just get washed out colors if HDR isn't supported but this device is new and different from most and it may have some other limitations.  Your best bet will probably be to obtain non HDR versions.